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Feb

10

Now What? North Korea Does Have Nukes!

Posted By: 'Okie' | 10:26 am — 2/10/2005 | Comments Off See comments below:

It’s official now:

(From the AP)

North Korea Says It Has Nuclear Weapons

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea announced for the first time Thursday it has nuclear weapons, and it rejected moves to restart disarmament talks anytime soon, saying the bombs are protection against an increasingly hostile United States.

The communist state’s statement dramatically raised the stakes in the 2-year-old nuclear confrontation and posed a grave challenge to President Bush, who started his second term with a vow to end North Korea’s nuclear program through six-nation talks. … “

(From the New York Times)

North Korea Says It Has Nuclear Weapons and Rejects Talks — By JAMES BROOKE

TOKYO, Feb. 10 – In a surprising admission, North Korea’s hard-line Communist government declared publicly today for the first time that it has nuclear weapons.

It also said that it will boycott United States-sponsored regional talks designed to end its nuclear program, according to a North Korean Foreign Ministry statement transmitted today by the reclusive nation’s wire service. … “

As Hugh Hewitt states,

The consequences of the Clinton-Albright policy of carrot and carrot are made clear today with North Korea’ announcement. Now, would the people urging carrot and carrot for Iran please explain how the result would be any different there than it has turned out to be in North Korea?

Captain Ed at Captain’s Quarters has a similar opinion:

All this proves is the folly of appeasement, an option unfortunately forced on the Clintons by their friend Jimmy Carter, who sailed into the North Korean negotiations uninvited and dropped this Munich descendant onto the table. Tyrants do not willingly disarm; they need all the weapons which they can get in order to protect themselves from the people around them, including (and especially) their own subjects. To believe otherwise is folly, and as shown in North Korea, catastrophically deadly folly.

Hopefully, the EU-3 can take a lesson from this in their dealings with Iran. So far, though, it looks like they’re trying to run the Jimmy Carter playbook as well.

Rick at Stones Cry Out puts some of the onus on the Clinton administration:

Five years ago, Albright was trying to arrange a meeting between President Clinton and Kim Jong to solidify Bill’s legacy as the President who reached an agreement with the dictator on nukes. Thanks, but no thanks Bill. It’s your “agreement” that got us into this mess. “

The rule of Kim Jong Il has been devastating to the people of North Korea. He is a James Bond style villain deluxe. Now, just like Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Thunderball, Kim has the power to destroy whole cities at his whim. Will he use it? Most likely not for destruction, but almost assuredly for extortion. He seems crazy, but mostly spoiled and greedy. If cornered though, he just might take out Soul.

OK, if it is now to be taken as a given that No. Korea has the bomb, what about the current talks between the Europeans and Iran that are trying to get Iran to back away from its own nuclear weapons pursuits. Condoleezza Rice, newly confirmed Secretary of State, has been in Europe this week making our country’s position clear. As Reuters reports on her last meeting:

Rice Mends Fences in Europe But Nuclear Crises Loom

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ended a fence-mending trip to Europe on Thursday having begun repairing transatlantic ties but with nuclear crises looming larger with North Korea and Iran.

As Rice concluded a week-long, 10-nation tour by meeting European Union officials in Luxembourg, North Korea announced for the first time that it has nuclear weapons and was pulling out of six-party talks on its atomic program.

Pyongyang’s declaration followed a defiant statement by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami Wednesday that no present or future Tehran government would renounce nuclear technology, including uranium enrichment, which can help produce a bomb.

“The message is the same for both: give up nuclear weapons and life can be different,” Rice said. … “

It’s been said by many of the pundits that we cannot allow the Mulla’s in Iran to ever get functioning nuclear weapons, because on the first day they have them, they will use them on Israel. I don’t think that it’s going to be “if” action is taken to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities, but only a matter of “when” and “who” it will be that does this dirty job that has to be done. Iran’s best hope is for its people to overthrow the tyrannical government that has kept it in religious bondage for the last two decades! Then the West can once again work with a rational government in this very important Middle Eastern country. (db)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 10th, 2005 at 10:26 am and is filed under Focus On Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.  |  Print This Post Print This Post  |  Email This Post Email This Post

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